


Confidential Memorandum M1995-7873-6837-1

by PrettyPinkCupcake



Series: SOW Party Memoranda and related documents (Rigel Black Chronicles) [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Rigel Black Chronicles - murkybluematter
Genre: Fanfiction of Fanfiction, Gen, Harriet Potter and Archie Black disappearance, Head Auror memorandum, Inspired by The Rigel Black Chronicles, Post Ruse Reveal, Set after chapter 12 of Futile Facade, murkybluematter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:33:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26843680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrettyPinkCupcake/pseuds/PrettyPinkCupcake
Summary: Tom Riddle figured out the ruse and tried to hold this knowledge to bend Rigel Black (Harry Potter) to his will.That failed.What happened next?Acting Head Auror John Dawlish reports to Riddle on the Auror Department's actions and findings.
Series: SOW Party Memoranda and related documents (Rigel Black Chronicles) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954477
Comments: 5
Kudos: 78
Collections: Rigel Black Chronicles Appreciation





	Confidential Memorandum M1995-7873-6837-1

**Author's Note:**

> This will only make sense to fans of murkybluematter's Pureblood Pretense, Serpentine Subterfuge, Ambiguous Artifice and the Futile Facade, as it relates to key plot points in the Futile Facade, namely Riddle's Arithmancy Algorithm to match Pureblood Heirs to optimum candidates.
> 
> If you haven't read these works, you've missed something significant in the world of Harry Potter FanFiction, so what are you waiting for? Read them!
> 
> This will also make a lot more sense if you read my earlier memos, Confidential Memorandum M1995-62442-867-7 and Confidential Memorandum M1995-62442-8678.
> 
> (BTW, the memo numbering is not random...)

**Confidential Memorandum M1995-7873-6837-1**

_Protected by the For-Your-Eyes-Only Charm_

**To** : Lord Riddle, Leader of the SOW Party

 **From** : John Dawlish, Acting Head Auror, Department of Magical Law Enforcement

 **Date** : 28 June 1995

 **Issue** : _Update on the disappearance of Heir Black and Heiress Potter_

* * *

**Key findings**

  * Current whereabouts of Arcturus Rigel Black (Heir Black) and Harriet Potter (Heiress Potter) are unknown.



* * *

**Background**

Following the revelation after the final task of the Triwizard Tournament that the competitor assumed to be Arcturus Rigel Black, known to friends as “Rigel”, was in actuality Heiress Harriet Potter, both Black and Potter have disappeared.

* * *

**Current Position**

Voluntary questioning under veritaserum of the fugitives’ parents, former Head Auror Lord James Potter, Lady Lilian Potter, and Lord Sirius Orion Black, has revealed no information on the whereabouts of Heir Arcturus Rigel Black or Heiress Harriet Potter.

Lord and Lady Potter and Lord Black were unaware that Harriet Potter had been attending Hogwarts under the name Rigel Black, and were similarly unaware that Arcturus Black had been attending the American Institute of Magic (AIM) as Harry Potter.

Aurors have conducted searches in Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley and the Lower Alleys, to no avail. A watch has been placed on all forms of international magical transportation. 

* * *

**Comment**

The fugitives’ parents are distraught at the disappearance of their children and have no knowledge of where they might be.

It is possible that the fugitives have fled abroad. Black has studied in America and spent the previous summer interning in South America (Darien Gap). He may have contacts there who could provide them with assistance. Potter is apparently fluent in French, so France or any other French speaking country could also be possible destinations. 

Alternatively, Potter and Black could be in the muggle world. Potter has muggle relatives and Black may have muggle contacts through his American friends. 

Please be advised that the search will continue.

* * *

**Recommendation**

For noting.

\- - - - - - -

Useless. Absolutely, completely, totally and utterly useless. 

Riddle dropped the memo on his desk with a snort. He was disgusted. The memo was even worse than Rookwood’s meaningless memos, and that was saying something.

The memo said absolutely _nothing_ that Riddle didn’t already know: Potter and Black are missing, we don’t know where they are and they could be anywhere. 

He’d be incandescently angry with Dawlish at the sheer pointlessness of this piece of parchment if the events since the disappearance of those, those … brats … hadn’t overwhelmed his anger to the point that nothing else could compare. 

Plus he'd been somewhat busy with damage control, putting out all the fires that Potter and Black’s public revelation of their ruse have caused. Riddle would have thought that SOW party members would have learnt, by now, what was and what was not acceptable. Anyway, they’d all been reminded, and now they knew. 

Malfoy at least - perhaps because Malfoy feared he’d been complicit in the ruse, Rigel had been Draco’s best friend and none of the Malfoy family had provided any warning of the impending disaster - had been very helpful in containing the damage.

And then there was the annoyance of having to replace his office furnishings _yet again_. 

Riddle wasn’t going to even think about that outrageous memo he’d received from the Minister’s office complaining about the increasing costs of repeatedly replacing his office furnishings, that there was a limit to the ability of reparos (as if he didn’t know that), and that the entire Ministry had to tighten their belts after the World Cup fiasco. 

Fudge had been quite apologetic after they’d had … words … Not only had that junior flunky’s career met an abrupt - very abrupt - end, but Fudge himself was now learning exactly what the limit of reparos was, and Fudge himself was getting a first hand lesson in economising. 

Truly, most wizards were imbeciles. They did not deserve all that he’d done for them. It was almost a shame the halfblood brat wasn’t on his side. She had cunning, ambition, and an ingenuity that was sadly lacking in the pureblood society around him.

How could Riddle ever have predicted Potter’s actions? He’d thought he was safe; that revealing the ruse would result in mutually assured destruction. 

Riddle had very much been of the belief that the brat had more to lose than he did - she had a family and friends that she very much cared for, and what were family and friends if not hostages that could be used against a person? - but no, that brat and her insipid cousin, the real Arcturus Rigel Black (whose only ambition was to be a healer? Really? The Dark pureblood scion of the House of Black a healer?), had somehow managed to outsmart him. Him! Tom Marvolo Riddle! Lord Riddle! Slytherin’s Heir!

And, thanks to those damnable Vows, not to mention the need to publicly acknowledge a Life Debt to the brat after that debacle at the final task, he was severely constrained. More than just legislatively; the Vow in exchange for extinguishing the Life Debt he owed her forever prevented him from exacting his fully justified retribution against her through her family.

The chit wasn’t as smart as she thought though. She hadn’t included herself in the Unbreakable Vow, only her (admittedly extended) family; she herself was not protected from his retribution.

Now if only he could find her. But she was smart enough to wait until she’d safely fled - wherever it was that she’d disappeared to with her cousin - before revealing to the Daily Prophet that she’d been Rigel Black for four years, and that it was a halfblood girl who’d won the True TriWizard Tournament, and loudly claiming that there was no proof of Pureblood superiority.

He couldn’t even use her Unbreakable Vow to bind her to him for the duration of the champion’s world tour prize. She’d loudly, prominently, publicly, declared the end of the tasks and her role in the tournament when she was awarded the Staff of Zuriel.

Unthinkingly, remnants of the adrenalin from that final battle with the deranged mad construct clouding his better judgement, he’d accepted the statement that neatly circumvented her Vow from forcing her into participating in the tour. 

Her disappearance was all that had saved her from his wrath.

If only Auror Dawlish and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement weren’t as useless as the other incompetents that he had to deal with at the Ministry. 

Riddle’s knowledge of the DMLE, and its competence, was limited. Typically it was Light affinitied wizards who were attracted to law enforcement - wizards with Light affinities were fond of order and regulation. Not only that; many Light Purebloods were just as prejudiced against Dark wizards as Dark Purebloods were prejudiced against Muggleborns and Halfbloods, and like the idea of being dark wizard catchers. Bottom line: not many Aurors in the SOW Party, none in the upper echelons of the Party, and none that he’d dealt with.

And, unlike Ministers, Riddle didn’t want (and he certainly didn’t ever need) Auror bodyguards. So he’d not dealt with Dawlish, nor Potter, nor Potter’s predecessors. Potter, prior to his recent abrupt resignation, had had a good reputation as Head Auror (even though his parenting skills were sadly lacking); not much yet was known about Dawlish, although Riddle was not impressed so far. 

Dawlish’s memo referred to a watch only on magical transportation. Riddle didn’t like to think about his childhood amongst the muggles, but he did know that ignoring means of muggle transportation was not going to help the DMLE find the fugitives.

Not that Riddle would ever admit it, not even to himself, but Harry Potter had deceived better wizards than Dawlish, deceiving even Riddle himself; maybe it’s not Dawlish’s fault he can’t find Potter or Black. 

If only… No. Riddle knew better than most the futility of “if onlys”. He’d not only moved on from the unintentional death of Myrtle Warren at the eyes of his basilisk, but he’d prospered. Wizarding society, wizarding Britain, belonged to him.

He would move on from this and continue to prosper. And as many of his former opponents (enemies? no, not enemies, opponents) learnt, Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Riddle and Slytherin’s Heir, was not someone you trifled with. 

He would, as he always did, exact a fitting retribution against those who wronged him, and that included one Heiress Harriet Potter. No half grown witch would get the better of him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> (The memo numbering is not random. I think Tom Riddle would be less happy with Dawlish if he realised the meaning of this memo's numbering).


End file.
